Daily Bible Nugget #210, 2 Corinthians 2:13

The Nugget:

1 Corinthians 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

My Comment:

The Holy Spirit enables us to understand the Scriptures. The writers of the Holy Scriptures were themselves inspired by the Holy Spirit. Man’s wisdom alone will not bring you to a full and valid understanding of what the Bible teaches. Yet, we must be very careful about claiming for ourselves that what we teach has been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Any time someone makes the claim, “God told me…” and then follows that with what they suppose is what God told them, watch out! The Holy Spirit expects and requires that we do our homework when it comes to understanding what the Bible means and teaches. Now, as for the portion of this verse that reads in the KJV, “comparing spiritual things with spiritual,” the proper interpretation of those words is not altogether clear on the surface. Many have taken it to mean we are to compare Scripture with Scripture. That may be a very valid application, or an idea that is true in itself regardless what the text may mean, but exactly what Paul intended when he penned these words is not clear, at least to me, in the words of the King James Version. Some other versions read: “connecting what is spiritual with what is spiritual” (Noyes NT); “with spiritual things spiritual things comparing” (Young’s Literal Translation); “in this way fitting spiritual words to spiritual truths” (Williams NT); “explaining spiritual things to spiritual people” (NET Bible); “judging the things of the spirit by the help of the Spirit” (Bible in Basic English); “interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (English Standard Version). Now, you cannot just “take your pick” when comparing English translations and expect to come to the right understanding either. But if quite a number of translations appear to support a particular rendering of the verse or clause in question, it is likely that the translations they offer are at least supportable from the original Greek text. The only real way to settle on the right and correct translation would be to study some rather difficult (for most people, I’m sure) to read translators handbooks and exegetical guides for the passage. I have some of those right handy, but I won’t further belabor the point, that sometimes to arrive at the most correct understanding you must be sure you are reading a correctly translated text, and that means you must do your homework, or learn from someone who has done their homework that does not have a bent-out-of-shape theological agenda to support.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1305 for 1 Corinthians 2:13.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1325 or in Logos 5 Bible software for 1 Corinthians 2:13.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

1 Corinthians 2:13. we speak. 2 Cor 11:6. not. ver. 1 Cor 2:1, 4, 6. *1 Cor 1:17-19. 2 Cor 1:12. 2 P 1:16. 2:18. *2 P 3:15. 1 J 2:20. the words. This is a specific claim to verbal inspiration. Divine inspiration of Scripture is asserted also at 2 Tim 3:16, as is the divine inspiration of the Scripture writers, 2 P 1:21. Failure to accept the Bible’s own testimony to itself has closed this Book to so-called “modern scholarship” (a misnomer if ever there was one!). Much modern scholarship is dishonest, for instead of explaining the Bible, it attempts to explain away the Bible, refusing to honestly come to grips with its claims and message. In an effort to escape the Bible’s obvious message, dishonest scholarship has tried to deny its authenticity and authorship, ascribing, for example, the books of Moses to multiple late authorship; denying the unity of Isaiah; asserting that the gospels, particularly John, are of late origin, and do not reflect the so-called “historical Jesus,” but views and traditions of the early Church of the third or fourth century—not explaining, of course, how books can be quoted or translated before they were written, or how such stupendous claims could be foisted upon a gullible public long after the possibility of disproof by eyewitnesses has passed. The only way to get at the message of the Bible is to be completely open to its message. To approach Scripture with humanistic and naturalistic (i.e. anti-theistic) presuppositions is to try to twist Scripture to fit a world view which it most emphatically will not support. The only valid approach to Scripture is to be honest to its claims and message and grant its right to set forth a theistic, supernaturalistic world view. To deny the possibility of miracle (as Hume and his modern counterparts) is to deny the possibility of history, for both are based upon the record of eye-witness testimony, and such denial is absurd. There are more pathways to truth and knowledge than an arbitrarily narrowly defined so-called “scientific method.” Like missing the right exit on a freeway, continued advance in the wrong direction is not progress; genuine progress will require a return to where we went wrong, and a fresh start in the right direction. Much “scholarship” needs to recognize it has pursued a wrong path, and recognize that it needs to return to sound principles of former generations of reverent, truthful, believing scholarship. It is neither truthful nor fair scholarship to approach a work of literature from a consistently unsympathetic and hostile world view in the attempt to legitimately understand its message. Rather, in our attempt to understand a work of literature, we must let it speak for itself. The task of scholarship is to place the reader as close as possible in sympathetic relationship to the viewpoint of the original writer and recipients of the literary work, and not to attempt to explain it away in an effort to force it to agree with popular contemporary philosophical presuppositions. Mt 10:20. **Lk 8:15. **1 Th 2:13. +*2 Tim 3:16. 1 P 1:10, 11. 2 P 1:20, 21. 3:1, 2. man’s wisdom teacheth. Gr. didaktos (S#1318g). 1 Cor 1:26. Ec 8:1. Jn 6:45g. Ro 1:14. but which. FS63I1A, +Ex 12:4. By ellipsis supply “but (things) which.” *1 Cor 12:1-3. 14:2. Mk 13:11. *Lk 12:12. Ac 2:4. *Ac 13:32-37. 1 P 1:12. Holy Ghost. Gr. pneuma, +Mt 1:18n. Micah 3:8. teacheth. Is 11:3. Je 3:15. +*Jn 14:26. Ac 26:24. +*1 J 2:27. comparing. or, interpreting. Gr. sunkrinō (S#4793g). Note: Or, as Bishop Pearce renders, “explaining (sugkrinantes) spiritual things to spiritual men” (pneumatikois). To this alternative, however, Hodge rightly objects, for it is inconsistent with the context. Paul is rather asserting that he explained spiritual things in spiritual words. The word rendered “comparing” here means interpreting or explaining. T#1033. Ge 40:8, 16, 22. 41:12, 13, 15. Da 5:12, 16, 17. +*Lk 4:18n. +*Jn 5:39. +*Ac 17:3, 11. 2 Cor 10:12g. spiritual things. Gr. pneumatikos (S#4152g, Ro 1:11). FS147I, +Jn 1:11. ver. 1 Cor 2:14. 1 Cor 9:11. 10:3-5. 12:1. Ep 5:19. *Col 3:16. with spiritual. +Ro 1:11g.